Communitas Ventures

Communitas Ventures is a 3-month Social Venture accelerator program in the South Bronx

Sessions start in FEBRUARY 2019 APPLICATION DEADLINE IS January 6th, 2019

Communitas Ventures is a 3-month social venture accelerator program in the Bronx. Communitas Ventures is designed for social changemakers who have big ideas on how to positively impact the Bronx and ultimately the world. We look for applicants who are passionate about creating a better world through their business.

You’ll go through a Lean Startup curriculum that will stress test your startup idea and business model and prepare you for growth.

Impact Issues that we’re accepting applications for:

Mentors and Speakers

John Enyame

Ronald Zorilla

Founder of Outdoor Promise and Director of Operations at GCSEN Foundation

Mma Afoaku

Technology and Venture Capital Fellow at Egan Nelson LLP

Peter Liu

Program Director at NUMA New York

Daquan Oliver

CEO of WeThrive

Nisreen Hasib

COO of Unbound Babes

Javier Medrano

Deputy Director, Third Ave BID

Joe Carrano

CTO, The Knowledge House | Founder, 718 Digital

Maggie Tishman

Director, Economic Democracy, MIT CoLab | Director, BronXchange

Miguel Sanchez

Founder, MassIdeation | Founder, MetaBronx

Sunmoon Jang

Director of Marketing, Root Impact

Logan Lin

Product Designer, Grubhub

Lindsey Jablonski

Investment Associate, Arrowmark Partners

Nishu Trivedi

Partner and co-founder at Terra Incognita Capital

FAQ

What is a social venture?

A Social Venture is a for-profit or non-profit that seeks both social impact and financial returns through its business model.

What stage of startups are best for the program?

You should be in the early stages of your startup. You can just have an idea or have been operating but still want to develop your business model. This program helps you to refine your business model canvas for growth.

What days and times does the program run?

It will run on Tuesday evenings from 6-9pm starting February 2019. There are 10 sessions and a demo day. You must complete all session to be eligible for the prize.

Where is it located?

The program will be located in Hostos Community College on 149th Street and Grand Concourse

Will there be food provided?

We do provide a meal for the program participants

Can we work full-time and participate in the program?

Yes! Everyone who participated in the first cohort was working full time

What happens during the sessions?

There is typically a guest speaker who is a social entrepreneur or expert in a particular topic. We review the topics in the curriculum. Each startup team presents on a specific part of their business model canvas. The startups engage in group feedback.

What do we have to do between sessions each week?

Every startup has to prepare a weekly presentation on a part of the business model canvas. Every startup has to interview at least 10 potential customers on their startup.

What are you looking for in an application?

We look for three things: Problems, Solutions, and Entrepreneurs.

The entrepreneur needs to know and understand the problem inside and out. The entrepreneur should have experienced this problem and is passionate about solving it. We also look for entrepreneurs who care about the Bronx and who are either from the community or have a strong connection to it.

We like to see that the problem is something that is facing the community and world around us. We want to know that you understand the facts about the problem as well and are not simply going off of your feelings.

Finally, we want to know that your idea is unique and innovative and actually has the potential to become a startup and work towards solving the issue in the community.

What’s the end goal for the startups that enter into Communitas Ventures?

We want the entrepreneurs to enter into Communitas Ventures with an idea on how to solve their problem and turn that into a startup. By the end of the program we want the entrepreneur to have a clear understanding of the various parts of their business and how to hit the ground running and make money while making an impact.Our goal is to have the business idea to be viable and operational within 6 months of the completion of the program.